Investigating the Effects of Substituting Oil Derivatives instead of Gas Oil in the ANFO Compound

Abstract

One of the most commonly used explosives in mines is ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil). This explosive, is made of a combination of a specified percent of gas oil and Ammonium Nitrate, and has been found to be very popular among the mining industry owners and construction projects, because of inexpensiveness and the ease of the production. At present in some small mining projects other oil derivatives like white oil is used instead of oil. In this case, the reaction will not be completed and toxic gases like Nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide will be produced. On the other hand, failure to complete the reaction process will reduce the energy efficiency of the explosion. Finally, the reduction in the explosion energy will increase the size of the crushed material by the explosion and will reduce the efficiency of upstream operations such as loading and handling. This study investigates the effect of other petroleum derivatives, such as Gasoline and White Oil, N-Hexane, Cyclohexane and Acetone, on the thermal energy released and toxic gas emitted when they are used instead Gas Oil in the combination of ANFO.